It was Wynne’s first public speech since winning last weekend’s Liberal leadership and she used it to help mend fences with school boards still reeling from the Liberal government’s controversial Bill 115, which imposed a two-year wage freeze contract on elementary and high school teachers.

Even before Wynne started her speech, trustees attending the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association conference in Toronto gave the former education minister a standing ovation.

“School boards are critical … to the health of the publicly-funded education system. I really believe in that level of government … and you know how close to my heart the work that you do is,” said the former Toronto trustee.

“And I also know the pain that you have been going through in the last few months. I have felt it. You know I have and I want to reassure you that the process going forward is going to change. It’s going to be different, we are going to restore that respectful dialogue,” she said.

Wynne, who will be sworn-in with cabinet Feb. 11, acknowledged government could have done a much better job negotiating with school boards and teachers.

“The process over the last few months in the relationship between education and government has not been what it should have been,” she said.

Wynne said her goal is to repair relationships so all in the education system can concentrate on making “the experience for young people better.”

At the moment, public elementary and high school teachers don’t appear to be in a forgiving mood and are still refusing to provide extracurricular activities in protest to the imposition of Bill 115, which the government has since repealed.

Shelley Laskin, a Toronto District School Board trustee and former chair, told the Star if anybody can heal the wounds Wynne can.

“I think she has the perfect tone because she knows the sector because she has lived and breathed education … of all the politicians she gets us,” Laskin said. “I think if anybody has a hope of changing the channel (with teachers) she’s our best hope.”

Michael Barrett, president of the school boards’ association, met with Wynne for about 20 minutes after her speech and later said her comments showed a “willingness to be open to ideas and a willingness to listen.”

Barrett said boards, like the teacher unions, are upset about how the government forced collective agreements with little bargaining, “we’ve been excluded just as much as bargaining units.”

Meanwhile, Wynne’s caucus colleague Energy Minister Chris Bentley, according to a source, has notified the premier-designate he doesn’t want to be in her cabinet.

Bentley, who was subject of a contempt motion last fall, has already stated he won’t run for re-election in London West.

With files from Kristin Rushowy

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